To help buyers, info on township permissions to go online in a month

District collector's office decides to display details of permissions granted or pending in case of construction projects to prevent duping of buyers

Soon, by simply going online before buying property, you will be able to prevent any shocks like the government suddenly sealing your dream home because it lacks relevant permissions. The District Collectorate has decided to upload on the Internet details of all ongoing projects in the district and the status of various permissions granted to these. People will be able to go online and check the status of the pending government permissions of all major ongoing construction projects that require approvals from the District Collector.

Representation pic

While most permissions within city limits are granted by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), areas outside the limits or on the outskirts come under the purview of the Collector. The nature of permissions is primarily related to land, its acquisition and, most importantly, conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural use (NA permissions).

Such permissions are primarily required for large township projects, where investors can continually track the progress of permissions. Most people are duped because builders finish half the construction even though most approvals are pending, as they cannot afford to wait as the construction cost also goes up. If and when permission is denied, the construction is stopped and people find their money stuck.

The decision was taken in light of the recent illegal digging cases in Katraj, where some construction projects were stopped for digging beyond the granted permissions. One of the constructions was slapped a fine of Rs 10 crore for violating hillside constructions norms, and this had made headlines.

The PMC had also carried out demolition of illegal construction in Katraj two months ago, which had led to riot-like situations on the streets. District Collector Vikas Deshmukh said that the data was currently being compiled and would be uploaded in a month.

"Information like the date of application for permission, its current status and estimated time will be displayed. If a particular project has several permissions, the status of each will be displayed against it in the table," he said. A further relief for citizens is the government resolution recently passed by the state government which has directed a reduction in the time taken for granting NA permissions.